A debate about military spending and budget items. The Conservatives critiqued the government's plans, charging the Liberals have underinvested in the military and are hiding weakness with accounting tricks. The Liberals fired back that Conservative governments didn't invest either, and touted their own counter-recession plans. Members also argued over deficit spending, whether a sovereign wealth fund is a good idea, and protections against sole-source contracts.
“I'm saying the government is announcing a big defence strategy without actually making the hard choices to back it up. They're making promises to our military they can't keep. The strategy will fail without real plans to match. All Canadians will pay the price. Conservatives support our troops and we won't accept this illusion of action. Our riding deserves better.”
“You did nothing for the military. We're spending more than you did. I'm tossing out lots of numbers and saying we met our target quickly to make us sound good. You closed offices so I'm using that to make you look extra bad.”
“Canada isn't spending 2% of GDP on defence like we claim. The real number is 1.6%, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The Liberals are fudging the numbers and shuffling money from the Coast Guard to inflate our defence spending to meet NATO commitments. It's an illusion and it's shameful.”
“My political opponent can't say anything critical about our military spending. His party didn't spend as much as we do. It's a lie for him to say we don't support the military. He should only say things that help me.”
“You're delusional. I'm just stating facts. My party put money into the military and it worked great. Your party is using tricky accounting to make it look like you're investing more, but really the military is weaker. You're living in a fantasy.”
“The people who live in my riding have opinions. The government is bad at spending money. Lots of programs wasted money. Lots of people are mad about the high-speed rail. We are in a recession. I don't like that. The government keeps spending more money. Servicing the debt costs a lot.”
“You Conservatives don't want to spend money on my favorite programs. You just want to cut taxes. I like when the government spends lots of money. Government spending is how we show we care.”
“I want to repeat my friend's attack on the Liberals. The economy is bad. The Liberals spent too much money. Now everything is broken. I blame the Prime Minister. People are sad now. It's his fault.”
“The Liberals say they're helping. I don't believe them. Food and rent cost more. People are struggling. The economy is bad. The Liberals did that. Conservatives will fix it.”
“Liberal spending is out of control. The debt is huge and growing fast. More borrowing and spending will only make the problem worse. It's just throwing fuel on the inflation fire. People can't afford the basics. Housing and government services are a mess. When will it stop?”
“The sovereign wealth fund is a bad idea. The government is already in debt. We shouldn't borrow more money to put into a fund. It's just going to increase our debt and burden future generations. The Liberals need to understand this.”
“I want the Conservatives to support our Canada Strong fund. They should agree with us and give us what we want. I'm going to ignore their concerns about borrowing money and try to make them look bad if they don't support our plan.”
“When you say 'government should get out of the way,' I think you read too much Ayn Rand. I want the government to protect businesses from US tariffs. I'm going to challenge you to say what would happen if the government didn't help.”
“I want Canada to stand up to Trump's trade threats. I don't want to give in to his demands even if it takes time to get a good deal. I want to spend money to protect Canadian interests.”
“I don't like the bill. I think it lets ministers give money to their friends without having to compete for it. I want a way to hold ministers accountable if they make bad choices with our money.”
